Wednesday, September 15th 2021

Intel Prepares Seamless Updating of Firmware Without a Need for Reboot

Intel has been working on a technology that will improve the lives of all users that have an Intel-based processor in their system. According to the recent round of patches for the Linux kernel, Intel's engineers have been working on a feature called Intel Seamless Update, which promises to bring updating of system firmware without a need to reboot. First of all, it is important to note that firmware upgrades have been stuck at requiring reboot in order to apply patches. This has caused many systems to be down and to slow down the infrastructure by a wide margin, as these updates can last up to several minutes, where the system is rebooting and can not be used.

Intel has presented an idea of creating a technology that will update system firmware, such as UEFI, in the run time. That means that the system will be able to apply firmware patches, without ever needing a reboot, minimizing downtime. This is especially valuable for customers with very high service level agreements (SLAs) around downtime, meaning that almost 100% uptime (not possible to be 100% generally speaking) is required for these systems. An example of this would be medical server infrastructure, which has to constantly be available for access. Using this technology, systems such as these could update their firmware and be online non-stop, without maybe ever needing to reboot. The said feature is supposed to arrive in time for the launch alongside Intel "Sapphire Rapids" Xeon processors.
Source: Phoronix
Add your own comment

17 Comments on Intel Prepares Seamless Updating of Firmware Without a Need for Reboot

#1
TheGuruStud
But does it actually take effect without reboot...
Posted on Reply
#2
Vayra86
TheGuruStudBut does it actually take effect without reboot...
I think that's the point.
Posted on Reply
#3
ZoneDymo
that is pretty cool honestly and smart of Intel to develop.
I dont think they have anything to beat AMD performance-wise any time soon, but providing important improvements like this might just make them the obvious choice for certain companies.
Posted on Reply
#5
Aquinus
Resident Wat-man
Gruffalo.SoldierVery good for big servers
I'd put this right up there with live kernel patching.
Posted on Reply
#6
Selaya
new critical vulns in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...
Posted on Reply
#7
zlobby
Selayanew critical vulns in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...
Yes. IDK why people cheer these kinds of things? It's the same when Windows can now update your UEFI via 'capsules'. No, I don't want my OS to have a write-enabled interface to the entire EEPROM area!
Posted on Reply
#8
R0H1T
How about idiot/power (loss) proof firmware updates?
Posted on Reply
#9
ThrashZone
Hi,
Whether you want the update or not ware
Posted on Reply
#11
chodaboy19
What about the security aspect of all this? They should detail that first?
Posted on Reply
#12
zlobby
R0H1THow about idiot/power (loss) proof firmware updates?
Many consumer-grade mobos have a firmware recovery options in various forms. I know it's not exactly the same but it more or less comes to the same end.
chodaboy19What about the security aspect of all this? They should detail that first?
Intel and security? Where have you been the last couple of decades?
Posted on Reply
#13
TheoneandonlyMrK
Selayanew critical vulns in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...
Sigh, exactly Can you imagine , apple recently patched a zero day, zero click vulnerability.
Posted on Reply
#14
zlobby
TheoneandonlyMrKSigh, exactly Can you imagine , apple recently patched a zero day, zero click vulnerability.
I'm not afraid by the ones patched.
Posted on Reply
#15
TheoneandonlyMrK
zlobbyI'm not afraid by the ones patched.
I'm not afraid of the one's we know about?!.
Posted on Reply
#16
zlobby


Ah, can I embedd .webp or a .jif?
TheoneandonlyMrKI'm not afraid of the one's we know about?!.
Anyway, that was in the post above
Posted on Reply
#17
Bomby569
It seems like such a small thing but this is really important in some contexts. Nice.
Posted on Reply
Add your own comment
Oct 31st, 2024 18:53 EDT change timezone

New Forum Posts

Popular Reviews

Controversial News Posts